IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


/ 


O 


/ 


^r.t 


f^. 


y. 


Q. 


m. 


(/. 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


IM 

2.2 
2.0 


U    III  1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


fV 


#^ 


V 


"9> 


.V 


4G^^ 


:\ 


\ 


o"^ 


% 


V 


> 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


M 


'"%'■ 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 

1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alte;^  ar;v  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checited  below. 


Ef 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


D 
D 
D 
D 


n 


D 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout6es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  film6es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentairas: 


L'lnstitut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  methods  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag6es 

I      I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


2l 


D 


Pages  restauries  et/ou  pellicul6es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachet6es  ou  piqudes 


I      I    Pages  detached/ 


Pages  ddtachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Qualitd  indgale  de  I'impressiort 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matdriel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6X6  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


0 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


V 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library, 

Department  of  National  Defence 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exernplaire  filmd  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Bibliotheque, 

Ministdre  de  la  Defence  Nationale 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin.  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  I'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, cr  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  film6s  en  commengant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film6s  en  commengant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symboie  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

;;-;|;t:-: 

[;    2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

I 


THE 


BURGOYNE   CAMPAIGN. 


OF 


JULY-OCTOBER,  1777. 


BY 
J.   WATTS  DE   PEYSTER, 

BREVET  MAJCR-GENEKAL   3.N.Y. 


REPRINTED   FROM   "THE    UNITED   SERVICE,"  OCTOBER,   18S3. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

L.    R.    HAMERSLY    &    CO. 
1883. 


L^i^ 


\\    0-^-  iC' 


i^^ 


h/1^ 


THE    BURGOYNE    CAMPAIGN, 

yULY-OCTOBER,   1777. 


"  Qui  n'avnnce  pas,  r&ulel" — Michelkt. 
"  Whoever  ceasea  to  advance,  loses  ground." 

The  result  of  about  forty  years'  critical  examination  of  history  has  led, 
step  by  step,  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  if  "history  is  philosophy" 
or  experience  "  teaching  by  examples,"  very  little  is  generally  known,  if 
at  all  clearly  developed,  of  the  methods  by  which  the  great  problems 
of  human  progress  have  been  solved.  A  recent  writer  of  ability — or 
so  considered,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  because  he  is  so  extensively  quoted — 
observes,  "The  philosophy  of  history  undervalues  the  work  of  individ- 
ual persons.  It  attributes  political  and  spiritual  changes  to  invisible 
forces  operating  in  the  heart  of  society,  regarding  the  human  actors  as 
no  more  than  ciphers."  He  is  right.  Individuals  are  undervalued. 
God  operates  and  achieves  miracles  through  individuals,  justifying  the 
remark  that  genius  is  the  manifestation  of  the  direct  action  of  God, 
Deity,  upon  men  through  a  man. 

The  great  difficulty  in  arriving  at  a  correct  judgment  lies  in  the 
fact  that  merit  in  this  world  is  gauged  by  success,  whereas  the  greatest 
merit  has,  as  the  rule,  been  a  failure  so  far  as  contemporaneous  recog- 
nition and  reward  is  concerned.  Some  of  the  men  who  have  exercised 
the  greatest  influence  on  human  progress  perished  of-  misery  or  by  fire, 
and  their  mutilated  or  charred  corpses  seived,  simply,  as  steps  for  some 
audacious  charlatan  to  mount  to  celebrity  and  fortune.^ 

1  The  examples  of  unrewarded  merit  in  all  ages  are  not  only  multitudinous,  but 
exquisitely  painful  to  contemplate  and  record.  For  instance,  consider  the  follow- 
ing: 

"The  history  of  the  recovery  of  the  Iranian  alphabet  and  literature  forms  a 
chapter  of  almost  romantic  interest  in  the  arid  annals  of  philology.  In  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  a  portion  of  the  Avesta  was  attached  by  an  iron  chain  to  a  wall 
of  the  Bodleian,  and  was  regarded  as  a  mysterious  treasure  of  which  the  key  was  lost. 
Fired  with  the  ambition  of  unlocking  the  secret  of  Zoroaster,  Anquetil  Duperron, 
then  a  more  lad  studying  ■"  Paris,  enlisted  as  a  common  soldier  with  the  object  of 
reaching  India.  Landin  .c  Pondicherry,  he  mastered  Persian  and  Sanskrit,  and 
thus  equipped  for  his  enterprise,  he  succeeded  after  years  of  hardship  and  adven- 
tures in  reaching  Surat,  the  goal  of  his  hopes,  where,  worming  himself  into  the  con- 
fidence of  the  Paris  priests,  he  obtained  from  them  the  key  to  their  ancient  alphabet 
and  language,  and  copies  of  their  sacred  books,  hitherto  guarded  with  the  utmost  jeal- 


THE  BUBOOYNE  CAMPAIGN, 


■,.'■& 


These  thoughts  and  this  article  were  suggested  by  a  recent  visit  to 
the  Saratoga  Battle-field  Monument,  erected  in  honor  of  the  event  which 
undoubtedly  became  the  first  step  in  securing  the  Independence  of  the 
Thirteen  Colonies.  It  was  erected  at  Schuylerville  after  a  long  struggle, 
as  severe  in  ita  kind  as  the  ciunpaign  it  commemorates  in  Us  way. 
Massive,  imposing,  and  complete  as  regards  the  outward  world,  its  ac- 
complishment is  due  solely  to  the  perseverance  of  its  successive  Boards 
of  Trustees,  who  labored  for  the  result  with  a  fidelity  rarely  equaled, 
and  the  product  is  a  credit  to  their  economy  and  judgment.  The  his- 
tory of  this  uionument,  like  the  history  of  the  battle-ground,  has  never 
been  told,  and  yet  it  is  an  honorable  one  for  more  than  one  individual, 
who,  like  the  real  hero  of  Saratoga,  never  has  and  never  will  receive 
tiie  acknowledgments  he  deserves. 

The  site  of  the  monument,  except  as  to  its  lookout,  is  unfortunate. 
It  is  not  of  historic  interest  in  itself,  and  like  pretty  much  all  else  in 
this  country  of  mistakes,  it  is  the  result  of  expediency  or  compromise. 
It  is  not  the  place  where  Burgoyne  surrendered  nor  where  any  fighting 
occurred.  It  simply  commands  a  fine  view,  and  is  an  attraction  for, 
and  an  ornament  to,  the  village  which  it  overlooks. 

For  a  long  period,  the  writer  was  greatly  interested  in  studying  up 
the  Burgoyne  Campaign,  and  wrote  a  series  of  exhaustive  articles  on 
the  subject.  They  were  as  complete  as  they  could  be  at  the  time  they 
appeared,  but  have  been  indorsed  by  the  more  recent  discovery  of  ad- 
ditional data.  Successive  developments  establish  two  facts :  1,  that 
the  failure  of  the  Burgoyne  Campaign  is  attributable  solely  to  Bur- 
goyne himself,  and,  2,  that  the  success  of  the  Americans  is  due  entirely 
to  Schuyler.  This  "  Justice  to  Schuyler"  is  the  more  trustworthy  since 
the  pen  that  records  it  is  one  that,  if  influenced  by  inherited  feelings 
and  by  causes  of  complaint  transmitted  by  blood  and  tradition,  would 
set  down  an  adverse  decision.     He  was  the  main  cause  of  the  ruin  of 


i 


\i\ 


ousy.  After  an  absence  of  eleven  years  he  returned  to  Paris,  and  the  next  day  de- 
posited in  tlie  Bibliotheque  Koyale  the  treasure  won  at  the  cost  of  so  many  perils. 
Seven  years  of  labor  were  devoted  to  the  task  of  preparing  a  translation  of  the  Zend 
Avestu,  which  was  at  last  published  in  1771,  only  to  be  received  by  the  learned  world 
with  mockery  and  derision,  as  a  puerile  and  audacious  forgery.  The  controversy 
raged  for  half  a  century,  and  it  was  not  till  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  this  in- 
trepid pioneer  of  science  that  the  researches  of  Park  and  Burnouf  set  the  question 
at  rest,  and  finally  established  the  genuineness  and  unique  importance  of  the  treasure 
80  hardly  won."  [From  "  The  Alphabet.  An  Account  of  the  Origin  and  Develop- 
ment of  Letters.  By  Isaac  Taylor,  M.A.,  LL.D.  In  two  volumes.  London, 
Kegan,  Paul,  French  &  Co.,  1  Paternoster  Square,  1883," — vol.  ii.  pages  253-54.] 

Paracelsus  is  another  notable  example.  Although  he  introduced  opium,  calo- 
mel, antimony,  arsenic,  sulphur,  and  other  chemical  remedies  into  medical  pharma- 
copoeia and  practice,  and  taught  the  faculty  to  study  and  enlist  nature  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  sick,  he  was  persecuted  while  living  and  calumniated  when  dead  by  the 
pedants  and  charlatans  he  unmask  1  and  unfrocked.  It  is  only  within  a  few  years 
that  his  memory  has  been  cleansed  from  the  filth  cast  upon  it  by  the  regular  profes- 
sion of  his  day,  and  his  true  character  and  all  his  great  capacity  revealed. 


\ 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


3 


those  nearest  and  dearest  to  the  writer  in  the  Colony  of  New  York, 
and  yet  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  nothing  but  his  ability,  his  moral 
courage,  and  his  complete  devotion  to  the  cause  that  he  espoused — 
whatever  may  have  been  the  inciting  motives — made  such  a  result  a 
possibility.  Schuyler  was  an  eminently  cule,  common-sense,  and  there- 
fore uncommon-sense  man.  Of  him  might  be  sjiid,  as  Henry  IV. 
remarked  of  LesdiguiSres,  defending  Dauphiuy  against  the  Savoyard, 
"Cefin  renard!"  Witness  the  "Canteen  Ruse,"  which  so  delayed  and 
bothered  his  adversary.  He  took  advantage  of  the  manifold  weak- 
nesses of  his  opponent,  Burgoyne ;  made  the  proud  Briton  to  play 
into  his  hands,  and  thus  won  the  game, — not  for  himself,  unfortu- 
nately, but,  luckily,  for  his  country.  Bradstreet  foresaw  all  this,  and 
gave  Schuyler  his  first  lift.  Thus  started,  he  took  all  the  other  springs 
himself,  and  secui'ed  the  success,  but  not  the  reward  of  merit, — that 
fell  to  the  intriguing,  mediocre  intellect  of  Gates.  Under  him  Arnold 
was  the  great  factor,  and,  below  the  latter,  again,  Morgan,  if  sharpshoot- 
ing,  military  murder,  is  a  legitimate  source  of  renown.  To  pick  a  man 
off'  in  cold  blood  with  little  danger  to  the  expert  is  a  pretty  cruel  pro- 
cess, and  yet  by  deliberately  shooting  Frazer,  Burgoyne  was  certainly 
deprived  at  the  crisis  of  his  ablest,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  subor- 
dinate. Frazer  was  as  brave  as  he  was  capable,  and  his  judgment  so 
often  neglected  would  have  prevented  at  least  one  catastrophe,  Hoosic, 
misnamed  Bennington,  fought  in  New  York,  not  in  Vermont,  and  won, 
when  it  was  almost  thrown  away  by  New  Englanders,  by  a  Continental 
or  regular  Regiment; — for  the  glory  of  which  New  York  has  as  much 
claim  as  New  England.  As  for  Gates,  he  had  and  has  as  much  right 
to  the  laurels  of  Saratoga  as  the  winners  of  supreme  prizes  in  the  late 
civil  war  to  which  their  predecessors  were  morally  entitled, since  to  the 
latter  the  means  to  complete  their  work  were  denied  which  were  abso- 
lutely necessary  thereto, — means  which  were  accorded  to  the  fortunate 
ones  witli  lavish  promptitude.  Schuyler  belongs  to  the  class  at  the 
head  of  which  stands  "  our  noblest  and  our  best,"  George  H.  Thomas. 
Without  Schuyler  there  would  have  been  no  Saratoga,  and  the  name 
of  Gates  would  scarcely  receive  a  mention,  because  his  utter  failure  at 
Camden  was  due  to  the  factitious  renown  acquired  on  the  Hudson,  and 
without  the  Nashville  of  Thomas  the  "  March  to  the  Sea"  would  have 
been  just  exactly  what  the  Southerners  predicted  if  Thomas  had  not 
been  left  behind  to  annihilate  the  rebel  strength  west  of  the  Alleghanies. 
Both  Schuyler  and  Thomas  were  treated  with  injustice  living 
and  misrepresentations  dead.  Fortunately,  nothing  can  drown  the 
thunder-tones  of  what  they  did.  When  a  Democratic  executive  selected 
Clinton  and  Livingston  to  represent  in  bronze  the  State  of  New  York 
in  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  he  did  as  great  a  wrong  as  when  Congress 
superseded  Schuyler  by  Gates,  and  if  the  people  of  this  State  were 
instructed  in  the  truth,  the  principal  niche  in  the   battle-monument 


THE  BURQOYNE  CAMPAIGN, 


m 


intended  for  tlie  statue  of  Schuyler  would  not  be  vacant  for  an  hour, 
because  the  desociulant  of  every  Whig  Now  Yorker,  man,  woman,  and 
child,  who  j)rotited  by  Scihuyier's  address  and  determination  would 
flock  to  contribute  to  phvce  the  grandest  effigy  of  the  real  hero  of  Sara- 
toga, Philip  Schuyler,  in  its  appropriate  station. 

There  is  another  aspect  under  which  Schuyler  must  be  considered. 

Just  as  the  Consul  Varro,  after  the  catastrophe  of  Canna),  just  so 
Schuyler  after  the  fall  of  Ticondcroga  and  defeats  following,  almost 
equivalent  in  their  effect  at  the  time  to  the  catastrophe  on  the  Aufidus, 
the  American  General  like  the  Roman  Consul — "did  not  despair  of  the 
republic."  No  parity  of  circumstances,  in  regard  to  the  peril  from 
Burgoyne,  existed  after  Gates  arrived,  as  there  was  before.  The  charm 
of  British  and  Hessian  invincibility  had  been  completely  dispelled. 
Burgoyne  had  displayed  himself  in  his  true  character — inertion. 

To  the  west,  Fort  Stauwix ;  to  the  east,  Ploosic — misnamed  Ben- 
nington— had  occurred  before  Gates  appeared.  The  fact  was  now 
patent  tliat  Americans  might  conquer.  The  prej^arations  for  defense 
were  complete.  The  tide  was  on  the  turn  and  Schuyler  about  to  place 
his  foot  within  tlie  threshold  of  the  Temple  of  Immortality  (as  Wash- 
ington— to  whom  alone  he  was  second — had  done  the  previous  winter) 
when  Fate  arrested  his  ascent  and  thrust  him  aside  and  down,  pushing 
forward  into  his  place  Gates,  who  possessed  as  few  attributes  of  a 
grand  leader  and  soldier  as  any  who  figured  in  any  important  position 
in  the  Continental  Armies. 

The  writer's  race  have  reason  to  withhold  such  applause  from  Schuy- 
ler, but  it  must  be  given,  for  it  is  Truth.  If  the  Revolution  was  justi- 
fiable, which  many  think  it  was  not,  Schuyler  is  entitled  to  a  position 
next  to  Washington  in  tlie  regards  of  the  American  people,  certainly  of 
those  of  the  State  of  New  York. 


'N 


ii\ 


When  Horatio  Gates,  the  hero  of  an  intrigue,  met  Burgoyne  to  re- 
ceive his  surrender,  he  uttered  a  compliment  which  may  have  been  the 
pink  of  politeness,  but  was  entirely  without  truth.  He  said,  "  I  shall 
always  be  ready  to  testify  that  it  [the  surrender]  has  not  been  through 
any  fault  of  your  Excellency."  To  admit  that  the  failure  of  Bur- 
goyne was  no  fault  of  that  general  individually  was  a  flattery  too 
gross  to  be  admissible,  except  from  one  who,  if  not  permeated  with  self- 
conceit,  must  have  appreciated  how  little  he  had  to  do  with  the  success 
which  sealed  his  opponent's  fate. 

Now  let  us  go  into  a  concise  consideration  of  the  events  of  this 
campaign,  and  in  the  first  place  let  any  one  truly  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject seek  to  discover  why  Burgoyne  became  so  prominent. 

If  any  officer  living  deserved  the  place  conceded  to  Burgoyne  it  was 
Carleton.  He  alone  had  saved  Canada  in  1775-76.  He  possessed 
every  qualification  which  was  necessary  to  the  operations  of  1777,  in 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


all  of  which  Burgoyne  was  deficient.  With  very  small  means  he  had 
accomplished  very  great  results.  To  talk  ahout  bravery  or  courage  aa 
the  grandest  (juality  of  a  general  is  folly.  Bulls  are  brave,  but  the 
skill  of  the  matador  laughs  brute  bravery  to  scorn.  A  bull-dog  is 
brave,  but  he  is  very  easily  disposed  of  by  common-sense  dexterity. 
Bravery  without  discretion  in  a  general  almost  realizes  the  words  of 
the  proverb  ahout  a  woman  and  a  jewel  in  the  unclean  animal's  nose. 
A  general  to  be  great  must  resemble  a  chain  of  large  and  little  links; 
some  extremely  great  and  some  extremely  small.  In  many  cases  the 
lack  of  one  of  the  most  diminutive  of  the  links  is  as  fatal  as  the  rup- 
ture or  absence  of  one  of  the  greatest.  Burgoyne's  chain  was  one 
destitute  of  many  links  of  different  sizes,  each,  however,  indispensable 
to  military  sncoess. 

His  campaign  was  a  tissue  of  blunders  almost  unredeemed  by  a 
single  creditable  stroke  due  to  his  own  generalship. 

To  begin.  He  took  Ticonderoga.  The  excessive  value  set  upon 
this  position,  in,  upon,  around,  and  against  which  so  many  millions  had 
been  wasted  by  France  and  England  and  the  Colonies,  was  one  of  the 
popular  errors  of  the  day.  The  estimate  set  on  it  was  like  that  of 
Halleck  in  regard  to  Harper's  Ferry,  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  Its 
possession  decided  nothing,  because  "  the  valley  of  decision"  was  not 
there.  This  was  shown  in  1755  and  1759.  The  Bible  contains  more 
common-sense  truths  in  concrete  language  than  almost  all  the  rest  of 
the  books  together.  "  Awake,  O  sword,  smite  the  shepherd,  and  the 
sheep  shall  be  scattered."  Quebec  was  the  shepherd  for  the  French 
in  Canada.  Wolfe  took  it  (Quebec),  and  the  fall  of  its  dependencies 
was  simply  a  question  of  time.  Ticonderoga  was  relinquished  imme- 
diately when  menaced  by  Amherst. 

[Quebec  was  invested  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1759,  by  Wolfe; 
Fort  Niagara  fell  24tli  July,  Ticonderoga,  27th  (30th  ?),  and  Crown 
Point,  1st  August.  The  great  battle  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  took 
place  23d  September,  1759,  where  literally  a  single  volley  at  thirty  or 
forty  yards  blew  the  French  dominion  and  military  prestige  in  America 
to  the  winds  forever.] 

Another  piece  of  physical  and  mental  blindness !  If  Ticonderoga 
was  the  key  to  Lake  Champlain,  Sugar  [Loaf]  Hill,  eight  hundred 
feet  high,  or  Mount  Defiance — not  Mount  Hope,* — as  General  Phillips 

*  To  demonstrate  how  little  trustworthy  ordinary  histories  are,  consider  the 
conflicting  statements  in  regard  to  "  Mount  Hope"  and  "  Mount  Defiance."  Lossing 
(P.  B.  A.  R.,  i.  134,  2,  3)  says  Frazer  gave  to  the  former, — about  nine  hundred  and 
nine  yards  nortliwest  of  latter, — 4th  July,  1777,  the  title  it  bears.  Stone  says  it  was 
80  named  by  Abercrombie  in  1766.  Trumbull  (2Gth  June,  1776)  calls  the  elevation 
"  Mount  Hope,"  and  also  alludes  to  "  Mount  Defiance,"  writing  of  a  year  before 
Frazer  or  Phillips  saw  them,  although  Carrington  (B.  A.  R.,808)  states  that  General 
Phillips  promptly  occupied  the  hill,  giving  it  the  name  of  "  Mount  Hope ;"  and  again 
(809),  by  the  morning  of  5th  July,  a  British  force  crowned  the  summit  of  Sugar  Loaf 


6 


THE  BURQOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


named  it — was  the  key  to  Ticonderoga.  Phillips,  Burgoyne's  chief  of 
artillery,  saw  this  at  a  glam'o.  They  say  that  American  officers  had  pre- 
viously discovered  the  truth  of  thih,  undcrMtowl  the  danger,  and  knew 
that  guns  could  he  got  up  on  the  height.  Their  advice  was  tieate<l  very 
much  in  the  same  way  as  the  counsels  of  Captain  Dugald  Dalgetty  to 
Sir  Duncan  C'amphell,  as  to  the  nocesfjity  of  a  "sconce"  on  an  elevation 
which  conunanded  his  castle  of  Ardenvohr.  Some  thirty  years  ago  the 
writer  was  visiting  u  foreign  fortress  upon  which  very  large  amounta 
had  been  expended,  and  being  accpiaiutcid  with  the  range  of  American 
Cohunbiads  or  Bond'ords,  pointed  out  two  heights  to  which  such  heavy 
pieces  could  cjisily  be  hoisted,  which  would  render  the  works,  below, 
untenable  in  a  few  hours.  The  general,  "a  mighty  man  of  valor," 
first  questioned  the  range  of  the  guns.  When  this  was  shown  to  be 
incontestable,  he  was  so  much  annoyed  he  would  not  listen  to  another 
word  on  the  subjet^t,  stating  that  the  government  had  spent  so  much 
in  rendering  the  place  as  they  thought  impregnable,  they  would  ap- 
propriate no  more  even  to  rectify  an  engineering  error.  A  subsequent 
visit  to  the  same  spot  showed  that  the  commanding  positions  were  still 
unoccupied,  and  the  place  at  the  mercy  of  an  enemy  that  could  get  pos- 
session of  them,  so  that  the  money  squandered  on  the  defenses  had 
been  lavished  in  vain.  The  neglect  of  Gage  to  fortify  Dorchester 
Heights,  and  the  occupation  of  them  by  Thomas,  conn^elled  the  British 
to  evacuate  Boston,  and,  just  so,  when  Phillips  got  'is  guns  upon 
Sugar  [Loaf]  Hill,  4th  July,  1777,  the  Americans  hud  to  abandon 
Ticonderoga  incontinently. 

This  operation  of  John  Thomas,  M.D.,  Major-General  Continental 
Army,  was  very  much  like  the  capture  of  Fort  Eguilette  upon  the 
advice  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  17th  December,  1793.  Thomas  was 
an  officer  of  great  promise,  and  evinced  more  real  military  compre- 
hension than  almost  any  other  of  the  Whig  commanders  at  the  time. 

Hill,  which  was  promptly  dignified  by  its  occupants  with  the  name  of  "Fort  Defl- 
a'.ice."  Burgoyne,  in  "A  Stnte  of  the  Expedition,"  Appendix  XX.,  mentioned 
'•Mount  Hope"  as  ii  well-known  title,  tiiken  possession  of  by  Frnzer,  3d  July,  and 
the  occupation  of  "Sugar  Hill"  upon  the  recommendation  of  Lieutenant  Twiss, 
"  the  commanding  engineer"  (XXI.),  but  says  notliing  about  naming  it  "  '  Fort'  or 
Mount  Defiance."  W.  L.  Stone,  in  his  "  Burgoyne  Campaign"  (IG),  says,  •  ^razer 
named  Mount  Hojie,"  but  mentioned  nothing  about  Phillips  giving  the  title  to 
"Mount  Defiance."  These  are  matters  of  little  importance  {mere  distentions  of 
words).  No  one  recognized  that  "Mount  Defiance"  was  the  key  to  Ticonderoga 
and  made  it  a  fact  until  Lieutenant  Twiss  demonstrated  it  out  to  General  Phillips, 
and  between  them  they  made  it  the  fatal  fact.  And  yet  Colonel  Trumbull 
(30-32)  pointed  out  in  June,  1776,  that  it  could  be  occupied,  "  since  it  was  obvious 
to  all  that  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in  driving  up  a  loaded  carriage."  Except  in 
the  case  of  Schuyler,  a  study  of  thii  campaign  of  1777  reminds  the  critic  of  what 
Frederic  the  Great  said  about  the  operations  of  the  Turks  and  the  llussians,  "  That 
it  was  the  one-eyed  fighting  the  blind."  Still,  except  in  rare  cases,  is  not  this  re- 
mark applicable  to  most  wars  ?  It  certainly  applied  to  many  campaigns  of  the  war 
to  put  down  the  "  Slaveholders'  Rebellion." 


THE  BVRQOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


Popular  delusion  ascribes  to  Washington  the  credit  due  to  pretty  much 
everybody  else, — as,  for  instance,  the  pertieption  of  the  importance  of 
Dorchester  Heights, — l)ut  ckwer  critics  ascribe  the  whole  merit  of  the 
conception  and  execution  to  John  Thonuis. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  time-table,  or  "Itinerary  of  General  Bur- 
goyne."  He  was  master  of  Ticonderoga  on  the  6th  July,  and  of  the 
Lake  next  day.  On  the  same  date  Frazer  routed  the  Americans  at 
Hubbardtown.  According  to  Gordon,  New  England  regiments  be- 
haved so  outrageously  that  St.  Clair  **  had  to  dismiss  them  from  the 
army  with  disgrace."  On  the  12th  July,  St.  Clair  joined  Schuyler  at 
Fort  Edward,  sixteen  miles  from  Skenesborough,  now  Whitehall,  and 
on  the  18th  there  were  not  over  four  thousand  four  hundred  regulars 
and  militia  present.  On  the  57th,  Schuyler  had  only  two  thousand 
seven  hundred  Continental  troops  and  less  than  fifteen  hur)dred  militia. 
At  this  time  Burgoyne  had  seven  thousand  effectives,  rank  and  file, 
A  1,  first  class,  besides  Provincials  and  Indians  flushed  with  victory 
and  with  success  of  every  kind. 

Of  Schuyler's  regulars,  one-third  were  negroes,  boys,  and  men  too 
aged  for  field,  or  indeed  any  other  service;  in  a  manner  naked,  without 
blankets,  ill  armed,  and  very  deficient  in  accoutrements.  "Too  many 
of  our  officers,"  wrote  Schuyler,  "  would  be  a  disgrace  to  the  most 
contemptible  troops  that  were  ever  collected  ;  and  had  so  little  sense  of 
honor  that  cashiering  them  seems  no  punishment.  They  have  stood  by 
and  suffered  the  most  scandalous  depredations  to  be  committed  on  the 
poor,  distressed,  ruined,  and  flying  inhabitants."  He  had  also  about 
fifteen  hundred  militia. 

George  III.  was  not  only  an  excellent  king,  with  the  very  best  of 
characters,  as  the  astute  Franklin  admitted,  but  a  monarch  endowed 
with  the  highest  kind  of  common  sense.  He  advised  Burgoyne,  after 
he  had  captured  Ticonderoga,  to  cross  over  to  Lake  George,  ascend  that 
sheet  of  water,  resume  the  march  at  Fort  William  Henry,  or  rather 
Fort  George,  and  follow  the  excellent  old  military  road  (strada  buonis- 
aima,  says  the  Italian  Castiglione,  i.  161)  to  Fort  Edward.  Phillips 
took  his  route  with  the  heavier  impedmienta  (Carrington,  313). 

Let  us  see  what  Gordon  says  to  this  route : 

"  Had  the  British  commander  returned  from  Whitehall  immediately 
to  Ty,  and  advanced  from  thence  in  the  most  expeditious  manner,  with 
a  few  light  field-pieces,  instead  of  suffering  any  delay,  in  order  to  his 
dragging  along  with  him  a  heavy  train  of  artillery,  he  might  have  been 
at  Albany  by  the  time  he  got  to  Hudson's  River  [30th  July].  Your 
correspondent,  the  fifth  of  October,  the  last  year  breakfasted  with  Gen- 
eral Gates  at  Ty ;  sailed  in  company  up  Lake  Georpe  (about  thirty- 
five  miles  long),  with  their  horses  in  batteaus,  landed,  stayed  awhile, 
and  reached  Fort  Edward  (about  nine  miles  from  Fort  George)  at 
night  a  little  after  eight.     From  Ty  to  Lake  George  is  rather  more 


8 


THE  BURQOYNE  CAMPAIGN.  ' 


than  two  miles.  The  two  small  schooners  on  the  lake  could  have  made 
no  long  resistance  against  a  brigade  of  gunboats.  Fort  George  was 
well  adapted  to  keep  off  Indians  and  small  parties:  but  not  to  stop  the 
royal  army.  The  Americans  there,  instead  of  defending  the  fort,  or 
opposing  the  landing  of  the  array,  would  undoubtedly  have  retreated 
to  General  Schuyler  at  Fort  Edward." 

If  ordinary  travelers  could  breakfast  at  Ticonderoga,  with  their 
horses  ascend  Lake  George  in  bateaux,  and  sup  at  8  p.m.  of  the  same 
day  at  Fort  Edward  on  the  Hudson,  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men  as 
well  equip[)al  and  supplied  as  that  of  Burgoyne  could  have  been  re- 
assembled at  old  Ty  by  the  10th  July ;  could  have  been  transported 
to  Fort  George'^  by  the  12th,  and  having  left  their  heavy  guns  and  all 
but  their  light  artillery  and  indispensable  materials  there  or  at  Ty,  in 
depot,  with  a  sufficient  guard,  could  have  reached  Fort  Edward  on 
the  evening  of  the  13th  July.  From  this  point  to  Albany  is  about 
fifty  milas.  With  six  to  ten  days'  rations  and  an  extra  supply  of  am- 
munition sufficient  for  a  battle  of  that  period,  Burgoyne  could  have 
swept  Schuyler  out  of  his  path  with  ease,  and,  allowing  one  day's  de- 
lay for  a  fight,  could  have  occupied  Albany  on  the  16th  July,  even 
conceding  that  he  lost  several  days,  which  would  not  have  been  neces- 
sary, because  as  yet  the  country  was  full  of  food  of  every  kind.  At 
Ticonderoga  enough  provisions  of  all  sorts  were  captured  to  furnish 
rations  for  Burgoyiie's  army  for  a  mouth,  and  at  Skeuesborough  (White- 

8  FoKTs  "William  Hknry  and  Gkorok. — These  forts  hiivo  been  so  often  con- 
founded that  a  few  words  of  explanation  may  be  necessary  to  make  the  matter 
clear.  Exactly  at  the  upper  or  southern  extremity  of  Lake  George  is  the  station 
and  dock  of  the  "  Lake  George  Branch"  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Kail- 
road,"  which  "  Branch"  follows,  as  a  rule,  the  stage-route  which  preceded  it  just 
cs  the  latter  about  succeeded  the  excello'it  "old  military  road"  constructed  as  early 
as  the  first  French  wars.  To  the  west  of  the  station  and  to  the  south  of  the 
present  magnili^nt  "  Lake  House"  are  the  vestiges  of  Fort  William  Henry,  which 
was  constructed  by  Sir  William  Johnson  after  his  victory  in  1755  ;  destroyed 
in  1757  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  permitted  by  Montcalm, — a  catastrophe  which 
Webb  at  Fort  Edward  could  have  prevented  had  he  not  pusillanimously  .  e- 
fused  to  march  to  the  relief  of  Fort  William  Henry.  Only  a  year  or  two  ago  skel- 
etons, balls,  fragments  of  a.iell,  etc.,  were  dug  out  of  on^  of  the  mounds  which 
originally  constituted  a  portion  of  the  cnciente.  Directly  to  the  south-by-east  of 
it,  beyond  a  little  trout-brook  called  West  Creek,  which  twists  into  the  lake,  and 
not  as  much  as  a  mile  away,  are  the  ruins  of  Fort  George,  and  a  little  south  of  that 
again  stood  a  small  work  called  Fort  Gage, — of  this  scarcely  a  vestige  is  discerni- 
ble,— named  after  the  general  who  commanded  at  Boston  when  the  lievolution 
broke  out,  and  until  forced  to  evacuate  the  place.  In  1755,  General  William  John- 
son won  the  first  decided  victory  over  the  French  at  this  point,  and  for  it  was  made 
a  Baronet.-  His  son.  Sir  John,  the  victor  of  Oriskany,  although  only  a  stripling  of 
thirteen  years,  was  with  his  father,  and  behaved  remarkably  well.  The  monument 
commemorating  the  fall  of  Colonel  Williams  is  visible  on  an  elevation  to  the  west, 
from  the  railroad  which  passes  close  by  Bloody  Pond,  into  which  the  bodies  of  those 
who  fell  with  that  officer  were  thrown.  Every  inch  of  the  country  for  several  miles 
south  of  the  Lake  House  is  historic  ground  and  ought  to  be  fertile,  it  has  been  so 
often  drenched  with  blood  and  fattened  with  corpses. 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


hall)  large  quantities  of  food  and  the  means  of  preparing  it  were 
wantonly  destroyed,  it  might  be  said,  through  sheer  stupidity,  by  the 
victors  completing  the  work  of  the  vanquished,  a  destruction  which  it 
was  the  former's  interest  to  prevent  and  arrest. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  very  time  when  the  British  troops  stoo<l  most  in 
need  of  necessaries, — 19th  August, — wlien  Burgoyne?  was  at  the  Duer 
House  (Fort  Miller),  what  does  Lieutenant  Hadden's  Journal  reveal  ? — 
that  at  this  moment  the  General  commanding  was  profiting  by  the  very 
transportation  which  he  complains  of  as  being  so  deficient,  to  bring  for- 
ward his  own  comforts  to  the  extent  of  thirty  wagons.  From  the 
Burgoyne  "Orderly-Book"  tlie document  is  missing  wliich  this  Journal 
of  iLadden  supplies,  and  that  ''ouclier,  evidently  torn  out,  is  repro- 
duced by  General  Horatio  Rogers.  "  Major-Goneral  Phillips"  (reads 
the  missing  Order  of  the  19th)  "/ta,s'  heard  with  the  utmod  astonishment 
tJmt  notwithst(j[;nding  his  most  serious  and  positive  orders  of  the  I6th  in- 
stant, that  no  carts  were  to  be  used  for  any  purpose  whatever  but  the 
transport  of  provisions,  unless  by  particular  orders  from  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief, as  expressed  in  the  order,  there  are  this  day  above  thirty 
carts  on  the  road  laden  with  baggage,  said  to  be  their  Lieutenant- 
General's" 

Are  any  comments  necessary  in  connection  with  Lossing's  intima- 
tions, most  cruel  but  criminal  if  true  (F.  B.  A.  R.,  i.  44.)  ?  Madame 
Riedesel's  language,  as  well  as  that  of  the  "  Brunswick  Journal"  ( W. 
L;  S.'s  "Burgoyne  Campaign,"  87,  88),  and  of  Fonblanque's  admis- 
sions and  explanations, — "qui  s'excuse  s'accuse," — what  judgment  is 
too  severe?  Let  critics  who  would  condeum  this  view  examine  and 
compare  these  and  other  authorities,  and  declare  if  this  article  does  not 
arrive  at  a  righteous  judgment.  Think  of  how  many  thousands  lost 
their  all  and  expiated  their  loyalty  and  paid  the  "  last  full  measure  of 
devotion,"  by  exile,  ruin,  or  death,  through  the  selfishness. and  soldierly 
shortcomings  of  the  man  to  whom  at  the  crisis  of  two  worlds  the 
interests  of  a  great  nation  were  confided  ! 

Moreover,  if  Burgoyne  had  pushed  on  to  Albany  forthwith,  the 
Americans  would  not  have  dared  to  defend  the  Moliawk  Valley,  be- 
cause it  is  universally  acknowledged  that  "  the  Burgoyne  scare  was 
upon  the  whole  country." 

Consequently  there  would  have  been  no  atte  apt  made  at  a  defense 
of  Fort  Stanwix,  and  by  the  5th  August,  St.  Leger,  Sir  John  John- 
son, and  Brandt  would  have  been  up  with  their  Regulars,  Rangers, 
and  Indians ;  and  the  Loyalists  or  Tories  would  have  rushed  to  arms 
by  thousands.  Sir  William  Howe  did  not  sail  from  New  York  for 
the  Chesapeake  until  the  23d  July ;  and  thus,  between  them,  the 
British  generals  would  have  been  mastei's  of  the  situation.  The  New 
England  Colonies  would  thus  have  been  severed  from  the  Middle  and 
Southern,  according  to  the  plan  of  the  great  German  strategist  and  tac- 


10 


THE  BURGOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


tician,  Von  Bulow,  and  other  military  experts;  the  French  would 
not  have  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  revolted  but  defeated  and 
splintered  Colonies,  much  less  the  Spaniards;  and  the  game  of  Inde- 
pendence would  have  been  up. 

It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  if  Clive,  tlie  conqueror  of  India, 
had  been  alive,  he  would  have  been  the  British  Commander-in-chief  in 
America  at  this  crisis,  and  he  was  not  the  man  to  let  the  grass  grow 
under  his  feet,  as  did  Gage,  Howe,  and  Clinton ;  in  fact,  all  except 
Cornwallis.  Clive  was  energy,  ability,  constancy,  courage  incarnate, 
and  his  campaigns  in  India  are  prodigies  to  show  what  manhood  can 
inspire  and  effect.  Nicholson,  who  fell  at  Delhi  in  1857,  was  a  man 
of  Clive's  type;  and  R.  Bosworth  Smith,  in  his  "Life  of  Lord  Law- 
rence," quotes  tlie  following  letter  : 

"  Pray  only  reflect  on  the  whole  history  of  India.  Where  have  we  failed  when 
we  acted  vigorously  ?  Where  have  we  succeeded  when  guided  by  timid  counsels  ?  Clive 
with  twelve  hundred  men  fought  at  Plassey,  in  opposition  to  the  advice  of  his  leading 
officers,  beat  forty  thousand  men,  and  conquered  Bengal.  Monson  retreated  from  the 
Chumbul,  and  before  he  gained  Agra  his  army  was  disorganized,  and  partially  an- 
nihilated. Look  at  the  Cabul  catastrophe.  It  might  have  been  averted  by  resolute 
and  bold  action.  .  .  .  The  Punjab  Irregulars  are  marching  down  in  the  highest 
spirits,  proud  to  be  trusted,  and,  eager  to  show  their  superiority  over  the  regular 
troops,  ready  to  fight  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  Europeans.  But  if,  on  their 
arrival,  they  find  the  Europeans  behind  breastworks,  they  will  begin  to  think  that 
the  game  is  up." 

How  troops  can  march  when  excited  by  victory  or  incited  by'  an 
intrepid  leader  worthy  to  lead  brave  raeti,  remember  Blucher's  orders, 
example,  and  achievements  from  the  Katzbach — on  through  so  many 
terrible  months,  1813-15 — to  Waterloo ;  Crawford's  hastening  the  light 
division  eighty  miles  in  about  thirty  hours  (Cust,  ii.  2,  272-73)  to  Tala- 
vera,  1809  ;  Sherman  hurrying  from  Chattanooga  to  relieve  Knoxville 
in  1863 ;  the  pursuit  of  Lee  from  Petersburg  to  Appomattox  Court- 
House  in  1865,  and  a  thousand  other  examples,  throughout  all  time,  of 
the  triumphs  of  military  celerity.  Marshal  Count  Saxe,  high  authority, 
said  that  a  victorious  army  could  hunt  a  routed  army,  such  as  was  the 
American  on  the  Hudson,  in  July,  1777,  by  rattling  peas  in  bladders. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  sound  of  the  Prussian  drum,  beaten  by  a 
tired-out  boy,  held  up  on  hoi'seback,  kept  the  French  flying  after 
Waterloo.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  go  out  of  the  American 
lines  to  find  an  example  of  prompt  and  quick  marching;  In  October, 
1777,  buoyant  in  spirit  with  the  results  of  Freeman's  Farm  and  Bemis' 
Heights,  the  news  that  the  English  were  coming  up  the  Hudson  found 
the  Americans  in  far  different  heart  than  when  the  same  enemy  had 
been  advancing  down  the  river  two  months  previous.  The  marching 
of  two  New  Hampshire  regiments,  ordered  off  towards  Albany,  shows 
what  could  have  been  done  by  the  British  if  they  had  been  imbued 
with  a  like  energy  and  enthusiasm. 


THE  BURGOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


11 


As  a  perfect  parallel,  or  rather  contrast,  to  Burgoyne's  neglect  of 
opportunities  and  Humphreys's  employment  or  utilization  of  them,  con- 
sider what  the  latter  actually  accomplished — 3(l-9th  April,  1865. 
Humphreys  had  the  Second  (or,  more  properly,  combined  Second  and 
Third)  Corps;  of  these  the  Third  Division,  not  over  five  thousand  ef- 
fective men,  comprised  all  that  remained  of  "  the  old  fighting  Third 
Corps,  as  we  understand  it."  The  combined  Second  and  Third  Corps 
started  out  in  pursuit  of  Lee,  Monday,  2d-3d  April,  buildiiig  bridges 
and  roads,  without  which  labors  the  columns  could  neither  have  ad- 
vanced  nor  the  supplies  have  been  brought  forward.  On  the  5th, 
this  corps  had  reached  Jetersville,  and  on  the  6th,  Hum|)hreys  dis- 
covered Lee  retreating  hurriedly,  and  at  once  started,  view-halloo,  in 
pursuit. 

His  troops  were  on  the  move  from  6  A.M.  till  dark,  advancing  and 
fighting  over  fourteen  miles  in  line  of  battle.  By  night  they  had  been 
victorious  in  six  engagements,  the  second  a  hard  fight,  the  sixth  and 
last  a  "  heavy  battle."  These  are  facts,  if  maps  and  reports  and  dis- 
patches are  worth  anything  as  proofs.  On  the  7th,  the  combined 
Second  and  Third  Corps  starte<l  between  starlight  and  sunrise  (5.32 
A.M.),  went  directly  for  the  enemy,  struck  him,  first,  at  High  Bridge, 
and,  afterwards,  at  Cumberland  Church,  upon  tiie  II  sights  of  Farm- 
ville,  and  fought  him  at  both  places  unassisted,  and  did  all  the  fight- 
ing of  any  account — and  some  very  hard  fighting — of  this  day.  On 
the  8th,  Humphreys  marched  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Cumber- 
land Church,  the  scene  of  the  last  pitched  battle  of  the  **  Army  of  the 
Potomac"  and  the  "Army  of  Northern  Virginia,"  and  would  have 
marched  on  more  if  his  supply-train  had  been  brought  forward  in 
time.  His  leading  troops  did  not  go  into  camp  till  midnight,  and 
some  of  them  did  not  reach  their  halting-place  until  4  a.m.  of  the 
9th. 

On  the  9th,  by  12  M.  Humphreys  was  "  bunk  up"  against  Lee's 
rear,  or  east  front,  under  Longstreet,  "  and  was  only  prevented  from 
almost  annihilating  this  force  by  the  truce."  About  4  p.m.  he  received 
assurance  that  Lee  had  surrendered. 

To  recapitulate,  from  Petersburg  to  Appomattox  Court-House  is 
about  one  hundred  miles,  and  ail  the  marching  and  teaming  had  to  be 
done  on  Virginian  roads,  which  in  bad  weather  are  almost  bottomless. 
From  Ticonderoga  to  Washington  is  about  the  same  distance,  one  hun- 
dred miles.  Between  seventy  and  eighty  of  these  an  army  can  enjoy 
facilities  of  water  transport.  So  far  as  mere  distance  was  concerned, 
Burgoyne  and  Humphreys  were  on  a  par ;  as  to  the  fighting  during  the 
advance,  Humphreys  overcame  ten  times  more  severe  work  and  perils 
than  those  which  the  British  commander  could  possibly  have  had  to 
encounter.  No  comparison  can  be  instituted  as  to  the  armies  under 
Schuyler  and  Gates  and  that  under  Lee.     The  former  were  priu- 


. 


12 


THI  BURQOYNE  CAMPAIGN, 


I 

1 1 


i 


!      [ 


oipally  militia,  the  latter  veterans,  just  as  good  as  troops  can  be  made 
or  the  world  has  seen.* 

When  people  undertake  to  judge  Burgoyne,  do  not  allow  them  to 
bring  forward  the  eulogistic  or  excusatory  volumes  of  Englishmen, 
written  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  case,  or  of  Americans,  equally 
anxious  to  make  their  own  triumph  the  more  glorious  by  exalting  the 
character  and  doings  of  a  chief  over  whom  the  victory  was  won.  In- 
stead of  those  obsolete  narratives  produced  by  unmilitary  people  and 

*  Having  submitted  my  views  of  Burgoyne's  want  of  go  and  push  to  one  of  our 
generals  most  distinguished  for  pluck,  dash,  tenacity, — in  fact,  all  the  qualities 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  a  "  real  captain,"  i.e.,  soldier  and  general, — the 
following  is  his  reply,  30th  July,  1883; 

"  Tl.e  body  of  troops  you  mention,  ten  thousand  men  with  thirty  guns,  with 
ammunition,  subsistrnce  and  ambulance  trains  and  medical  wagons,  such  as  are 
essential  in  our  wooded  and  sparsely-settled  country,  should  not,  at  the  very  most, 
stretch  out  a  greater  distance  than  what  you  mention  :  that  is,  live  miles,  and  might 
be  limited  to  three.  The  roads  are  supposed  to  be  as  you  say,  ordinarily  good  country 
roads.  They  could  easily  get  over  eighteen  miles  a  day.  In  pursuit  from  Peters- 
burg to  Appomattox  Court-House,  which  distance  you  put  about  one  hundred  miles 
(which  is  sufficiently  correct),  we  [combined  Second  and  Third  Corps]  were  delayed 
the  first  day  out  (the  3d  April)  materially  by  the  necessity  of  bridging  streams  that 
were  not  fordable.  On  the  4th  I  made  but  a  short  march  owing  to  the  cav[alry] 
coming  in  on  the  road  and  having  precedence ;  my  troops  were  put  to  working  on 
the  roads  while  the  cavalry  stopped  us,  to  insure  the  trains  following.  We  had  but 
very  few  wagons  with  us :  only  some  ammunition,  ambulance,  and  surgical  wagons. 

"  I  fought  over  fourteen  miles  on  the  6th  of  April,  having  marched  four  miles 
at  least  before  coming  in  contact  with  the  enemy.  Then  to  cross  Flat  Creek,  built 
two  bridges  over  it,  and  repaired  the  road-bridge  before  I  could  get  at  the  enemy. 

"  On  the  7th,  marched  some  twelve  miles  to  Heights  of  Farmville,  in  pursuit, 
encountering  the  whole  of  Leo's  force  there  at  1  o'clock,  p.m. 
,         "  On  the  8th,  marched  twenty-six  miles,  halting  at  midnight. 

"  On  the  9th,  by  mid-day  was  up  with  Lee  at  Appomattox. 

"  By  looking  at  Appendix  L  [xii.  Scribner's  Military  Series],  you  will  find  the 
Second  Corps,  on  the  31st  March,  had  eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  seven 
enlisted  men  of  infantry  present  for  duty  equipped.  Lost  in  action  during  the  op- 
erations, about  two  thousand  ;  straggled  or  fell  out,  between  one  and  two  thousand. 
[This  makes  the  contrast  much  stronger  against  Burgoyne.]  I  see  the  number  of 
guns  is  put  down  at  seventy,  four  of  which  were  mortars,  and  therefore  were  not 
taken  with  us  on  the  march.  We  had  therefore  eleven  batteries,  or  sixty-six  guns. 
I  do  not  recollect  the  number  of  wagons  that  belonged  to  the  corps,  and  I  could 
only  get  at  it  by  diving  into  a  great  mass  of  papers.  With  the  exception  of  the 
fighting  trains,  the  trains  followed  us  at  some  considerable  distance. 

"  From  Fredericksburg  to  Gettysburg  [Third  Corps]  there  were  so  many  halts 
for  two,  three,  or  more  days,  that  they  can  give  no  av^irage  per  day. 

"The  Sixth  Corps  marched  over  thirty  miles  continuously,  getting  up  to  Get- 
tysburg in  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  July.* 

"The  Second  Division,  Third  Corps,  marched  from  Rappahannock  River  (part 
of  it  were  covering  railroad  crossing  of  that  river)  evening  of  14th  June,  1863,  and 
reached  Manassas  Junction  night  of  16th,  a  march  of  twenty-nine  miles, — 16th  an 
excessively  oppressive  day. 

"  Again,  on  the  25th  June,  marched  twenty-five  miles  to  mouth  of  Monocacy, 
part  of  it  in  night  under  a  heavy  rain  on  the  canal  tow-path." 

*  Sedgwick  layi  thirty  milM. 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


13 


rehashed  and  revamped  by  such  writers  as  Bancroft,  who,  with  great 
reputations,  wrote  history  as  lawyers  draw  up  special  pleas,  and  know 
nothing  of  war  except  the  romantic  or  novelistic  phases  of  it.  If 
truthful  history  is  to  be  written,  it  must  be  done  under  different  lights, 
from  different  sources,  and  from  other  books  than  those  which  have 
been  generally  accepted  in  the  United  States  as  trustworthy  stories  of 
the  Revolution,  unless  all  such  have  been  thoroughly  sifted  and  com- 
pared. Burgoyne  was  unfit  for  his  place,  as  was  Howe,  as  Gage  had 
been,  .as  Clinton  was  to  be.  Carleton  and  Cornwallis  never  had  a 
show.     Washington  and  Schuyler  were  fit  for  their  places. 

Again,  to  go  back,  Burgoyne  did  not  leave  Skenesborough  (Wh->e- 
hall)  until  the  23d  July,  nor  Fort  Edward  until  the  13th  August. 
Mark  these  dates!  This  delay  enabled  Scliuyler  to  block  the  route  be- 
tween Lake  Champlain  and  the  Hudson  to  the  north  and  send  Arnold 
to  the  relief  of  Fort  Stanwix  to  the  west,  in  extreme  peril  th.-ough  the 
slaughterous  defeat  of  Herkimer  by  Sir  John  Johnson,  on  ihe  6th 
August.  Arnold's  approach  and  the  outrageous  misconduct  of  the 
Indians  compelled  St.  Leger  to  decamp  at  noon  of  the  22d  August, 
while  Burgoyne  was  still  at  Fort  Miller,  about  ten  miles  below  Fort 
Edward  and  three  miles  above  Schuylerville,  where  he  crossed  the 
Hudson  to  his  own  "  Caudine  Forks." 

Again,  Schuyler  was  not  superseded  by  Gates  until  the  19th 
August,  while  Burgoyne  was  still  at  Fort  Miller,  whence  he  sent  his 
Germans  to  their  destruction  at  Hoosic,  or,  as  Stark  himself  styles  it, 
Walloomscock,'  in  a  letter  detailing  the  stealing  of  his  horse  by  his  own 
men, — not  Bennington. 

In  the  detachment  of  his  Germans  to  their  discomfiture  at  Hoosic, 
Burgoyne  demonstrated  how  utterly  unfit  he  was  for  the  command  he 
exercised,  and  also  how  entirely  deficient  he  was  equally  in  his  estimate 
and  comprehension  of  men.     It  was  just  exactly  such  a  blunder  as  was 

*  The  loss  of  Stark's  horse,  while  he  was  engaged  in  a  reconnoissance  on  foot 
during  the  action,  is  recorded  by  Professor  Butler,  who  publishes  it  as  having  found 
the  advertisement  in  an  old  file  of  the  Hartford  Courant,  of  date  October  7,  1777. 
It  is  as  follows  : 

(From  tlie  ConntcHcut  Couranl,  Tuesday,  October  7, 1777.) 

"twenty    D0LLAB8    REWARD. 

"  Stole  from  me  the  subscriber,  from  Walloomscock,  in  the  time  of  action,  the 
16th  of  August  last,  a  brown  mare,  five  years  old,  had  a  star  on  her  forehead.  Also 
a  doeskin  seated  saddle,  blue  housing  trim'd  with  white,  and  a  curbed  bridle.  It  is 
earnestly  requested  that  all  committees  of  safety  and  others  in  authority,  to  exert 
themselves  to  recover  said  thief  and  mare,  so  that  he  may  bo  brought  to  justice,  and 
the  mare  brought  to  me;  and  the  person,  whoever  he  be,  shall  receive  the  above  re- 
ward for  both,  and  for  the  mare  alone  ono-half  of  that  sum.  How  scandalous,  how 
disgraceful  and  ignominious  must  it  appear  to  all  friendly  and  generous  souls  to 
have  such  sly,  artful,  designing  villains  enter  into  the  field  in  the  time  of  action  in 
order  to  pillage,  pilfer,  and  plunder  from  their  brethren  when  engaged  in  battle. 

"  John  Stark,  B.  D.  G. 

"  Benninqton,  11th  Sept.,  1777." 


14 


THE  BURGOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


i  i 


i 

ml 


1^ 


made  in  the  selection  of  the  troops  intended  to  profit  by  the  explosion 
of  the  mine  before  Petersburg,  in  1864. 

There  is  no  use  of  dilating  upon  that! 

Recent  revelations  confirm  the  worst  that  was  originally  surmised 
or  charged.  If  Burgoyne  had  undertaken  to  pick  out,  man  by  man, 
from  those  under  a'*ms,  the  most  unequal  to  solve  the  problem  he  had 
in  hand,  he  could  not  have  blundered  more  fearfully  nor  more  fatally 
to  himself.  Wliy  did  lie  not  send  Frazor,  "  the  gallant  General  Frazer 
[who]  was  the  directing  soul  of  the  Brltisii  troops  in  action,"  with  his 
elegant  Light  Infantry,  than  whom,  at  th's  time,  there  were  none  better 
in  the  world  ?  nor  could  a  better  leader  be  found  for  the  "  Light  Bobs" 
than  the  capable,  experienced,  and  intrepid  Frazer  himself.  Even 
as  it  was,  in  spite  of  all  the  stupidity  manifested,  the  Americans,  vic- 
torious over  Baum,  fell  to  j)lundering,  as  they  afterwards  did  at  Eutaw 
Springs,  and  at  other  places,  and  as  the  rebels  did  at  Shiloh  and  at 
Cedar  Creek,  and  on  otiier  occasions,  and  lost  sight  of  the  grand  prize, 
victory.  It  was  touch  and  go  at  Hoosic  after  all.  Breyman  came 
up,  was  winning  back  all  that  was  lost,  when  in  stepped  Warner  with 
his  Continentals  or  regulars.  New  Yorkers  as  well  as  New  Englanders, 
and  the  victory  first  won,  then  almost  thrown  away,  became  assured. 

There  is  no  benefit  in  following  out  this  series  of  blunders,  except 
to  say  that  down  to  the  16th  October  Burgoyne's  c  e  was  by  no 
means  desperate.  I^et  his  friends  assert  it  as  loudly  and  vehemently  as 
they  may  or  can.  Gates  was  looking  over  his  shoulder  and  casting  wist- 
ful glances  towards  his  bridge  of  boats  and  the  rear,  even  after  the 
success  which  Arnold,  against  his  will  and  intention,  won  for  him  on 
the  7th  October.  It  is  all  very  well  for  those  who  wish  to  rehabili- 
tate Gates  with  ink  on  paper, — be  the  inciting  cause  whatever  it  may, 
— he  was  one  of  the  popular  humbugs  of  the  Revolution.  He  cooked 
and  got  his  gruel  at  Camden.  The  "  good  and  gallant"  Cornwallis 
who  settled  his  hash  there  would  have  done  it  just  as  handsomely  at 
Saratoga,  had  the  victim  of  Clinton,  in  Yorktown  in  1781,  been  on 
the  Hudson  in  1777.  Burgoyne  was  bad  enough  with  his  conceit  and 
self-indulgence,  but  Sir  AVilliam  Howe  was  worse  with  his  "impru- 
dence" (Fonblanque,  223)  and  indolence,  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton  with 
his  nervousness,  and  he,  again,  and  Vaughan  with  the'r  perfunctory 
hesitations.  Gordon  tells  the  story  as  well  as  anyboi  _,  who  has  at- 
tempted it,  and  he  cannot  be  improved  upon. 

"  We  now  enter  upon  the  relation  of  the  measures  pursued  by  the  British  below 
Albany.  You  have  been  told  what  were  the  sentiments  of  General  Putnam,  on  the 
9th  [October],  as  to  their  sailing  up  to  within  sixteen  miles  of  the  American  camp, 
before  removed  from  the  neighborhood  of  Stillwater.  Sir  H.  Clinton,  however,  in- 
stead of  pushing  up  the  river,  intrusted  the  business  to  Sir  James  Wallace  and  Gen- 
eral Vaughan.  The  latter  had  under  him  three  thousand  six  hundred  men.  Sir 
James  commanded  a  flying  squadron  of  light  frigates,  accompanied  with  the  neces- 
sary appendage  of  barges,  batteaus,  and  boats  for  landing  the  troops,  and  all  other 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


16 


movements.  By  the  18th  [October]  they  reached  Kingston  alias  ^sopus,  a  fine 
village  as  you  would  call  it ;  but  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  a  good  town.  Upon 
Vaughan's  landing  the  troops,  the  Americans,  being  too  weak  to  make  resistance, 
abandoned  their  battery  of  three  guns  after  spiking  them.  They  left  the  town  im- 
mediately for  their  own  safety,  without  firing  from  the  houses  upon  the  British. 
Vaughan,  however,  was  told  that  Burgoyne  had  actually  surrendered ;  and  the 
town  was  doomed  to  the  flames.  The  whole  was  reduced  to  ashes,  and  not  a  house 
left  standing.  The  American  Governor  Clinton  was  a  tame  spectator  of  the  bar- 
barity, but  only  for  want  of  a  sufficient  force  to  attack  the  enemy.  This  seemingly 
revengeful  devastation  was  productive  of  o,  pathetic  but  severe  letter  from  General 
Gates  (then  in  the  height  of  victory)  to  General  Vaughan.  The  latter  with  a  flood- 
tide  wAght  have  reached  Albany  in  four  hours :  there  was  no  force  to  have  hindered 
him.  When  he  burnt  Livingston's  Upper  Mills  [between  Barrytown  and  Tivoli], 
had  he  proceeded  to  Albany  and  burnt  the  American  stores.  Gates,  as  he  himself 
has  declared,  must  have  retreated  into  New  England.  The  royalists  may  justly 
remark  upon  the  occasion,  '  "Vv'hy  a  delay  was  made  of  seven  days  after  Clinton 
had  taken  the  forts  .vo  ai*e  ignorant  of.  The  Highland  forts  were  taken  the  (jth  Oc- 
tober; iEsopus  was  burnt  the  13tli ;  Burgoyne's  convention  was  signed  the  17lh. 
There  was  no  force  to  oppose  even  open  boats  on  the  river ;  why  then  did  not  the 
boats  proceed  immediately  to  Albany  ?  Had  Clinton  gone  forward,  Burgoyne's 
army  had  been  saved.  Putnam  could  not  have  crossed  to  Albany.  The  army  amused 
themselves  with  bu-ning  ^Esopus,  and  the  houses  of  individuals  on  the  river's-bank.' 
While  the  British  were  manoeuvring  in  and  about  the  North  River,  doing  mischief 
to  individuals,  without  serving  their  own  cause  in  the  least,  General  Gates  had 
express  upon  express,  urging  him  to  send  down  troops  to  oppose  the  enemy.  On 
the  14th  he  wrote  to  Governoi-  Clinton  : — '  I  have  ordered  the  commanding  officer  at 
Fort  Schuyler  to  send  Van  Schaak's  regiment  without  delay  to  Albany, — desired 
Brigadier-General  Gransevoort  to  repair  to  that  city,  and  take  the  command  of  all 
the  troops  that  may  assemble  there, — and  have  sent  down  the  two  ^Esopus  regiments, 
the  Tryon  County  militia,  and  most  of  the  militia  of  Albany  County.'  But  he 
would  not  weaken  his  hold  of  Burgoyne  by  any  detachment  of  Continentals  from 
his  own  army,  or  of  New  England  militia.  The  New  York  State  militia,  that  re- 
paired to  the  governor  to  assist  the  inhabitants,  did  as  much  mischief  as  the  enemy, 
the  burning  of  houses  and  othei'  buildings  excepted.  J8^°It  is  too  much  the  case  of 
all  militia,  that  when  they  march  to  the  assistance  of  their  countrymen  against  a 
common  enemy,  they  do  the  former  a  great  deal  of  damage.  The  laxness  of  their 
discipline  and  their  unreasonable  claims  of  indulgences  from  those  whom  they  are 
to  protect,  make  them  expensive  and  disagreeable  guests." 


In  this  connection  it  may  be  found  interesting  to  insert  the  copy  of 
a  letter  which  the  writer  found  among  the  papers  of  his  grandfather, 
who  was  a  captain  in  the  New  York  Royal  Volunteers,  or  King's 
Third  American  Regiment,  which  was  the  first  to  enter  Fort  Mont- 
gomery on  the  6th  of  October,  1777,  when  Clinton  started  up  the 
Hudson  to  demonstrate  in  favor  of  Buvgoyne.  As  the  writer  has 
never  seen  it  in  print,  it  may  prove  valuable  as  well  as  interesting. 

Indorsed:  "Gen'l  Putnam's  Letter  of  Sept.  16,  1777,  with  accounts  from  the 
Southward. 

"  On  public  Service. 


To 


His  Excellency  Gov'r  Clinton, 
at 
Kingston, 

by  Express." 
Countersigned  on  outside : 
"IsBABL  Putnam." 


16 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN, 


♦'Peeks  Kill,  Sept.  16,  1777. 
"Dear  Sir,— 

"  Your  Favour  of  18th  I  have  been  duly  honoured  with  ;  am  greatly  obliged  to 
you  for  the  assistance  you  have  ordered  from  the  militia.  I  will  tako  particular 
care  that  they  shall  bo  Supplied  with  provision  and  Ammunition. 

"  The  Enemy's  numbers  in  and  about  Hackonsnck,  by  the  best  informat.on  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain,  are  between  '  and  Ave  thousand  ;  part  came  from  Staton 
Island,  through  Elizabeth  Town  &  Newark  toward  sison  [us  on  ?],  and  three  or  four 
thousand  crossed  from  Spiten  divel  Creek  to  Fort  Lee.  I  am  well  assured  that  they 
have  lately  received  a  reinforcement  at  N.  York,  and  this  is  further  Confirmed  by 
a  deserter  who  belongs  to  Col.  Bradly's  Rcgt.,  taken  at  Danbury  after  enlisted  with 
the  Enemy,  &  came  from  the  bridge  with  the  party  that  came  to  Fort  Lee ; — lie  says 
they  told  him  ten  thousand  recruits  were  arrived  at  York ; — that  the  party  which 
came  to  fort  Leo  were  not  many  of  them  from  the  bridge ; — thoir  numbers  four  or 
live  thousand ; — had  deserted  at  Soubriskey's  [Zab'-iskey's?]  Mills,  between  Paramus 
and  H-'ckensack,  where  they  lay  when  he  left  them  ; — &  had  Collected  many  Cattle 
and  horses. 

"Col.  Burr,  I  am  informed,  Surprised  thoir  Picquet  last  night,  killed  Sixteen, 
mortally  wounded  seven,  and  took  the  remainder. 

"  I  have  wrote  to  Connecticut  for  the  militia  of  that  State  to  be  Speedily  Sent 
down. 

"  Inclosed  is  a  hand-bill  containing  an  acc't  of  the  action  to  the  Southward, 
Since  the  receipt  of  whici.  T  have  received  a  letter  from  Major  Putnam,  who  was  at 
Philadelphia,  informing  tbat  Gen'l  Washington,  with  his  army,  had  retired  this 
side  the  School  kill,  &  meant  to  make  a  stand  there,  'ien'l  How  was  busied  ye 
12th  and  13th  burying  his  Dead  ; — that  we  had  about  one  thousand  killed  and 
wounded  ; — and  it's  believed  the  Enemy  have  lost  double  that  number ; — on  the  13th 
the  Enemy  were  filing  oft"  to  the  left  to  gain  Sweed's  ford  15  miles  above  Philadel- 
phia.— Gen'l  Washington  Sent  a  body  of  Troops  to  Oppose  them.  Assailants  Gen- 
erally have  an  infinite  advantage  over  those  who  act  only  on  the  aofensive ; — it's  my 
Opinion,  &  I  think  the  Opinion  is  Supported  by  our  own  Experience,  that  we  shall 
always  be  beat  untill  we  learn  or  venture  to  attack. 

"  Gen'l  Parsons,  with  his  Brigade,  &  Col.  Ludington,  with  his  detachment  from 
the  militia,  are  at  Whitephiins,  where  they  are  necessary  and  serve  a  double  pur- 
pose,— to  Cover  that  part  of  the  Couniry  from  the  ravages  of  the  Enemy,  &  are  as 
great  or  greater  Security  to  this  post  lying  between  us  and  them  than  if  they  were 
at  this  post ;  they  will  git  the  first  notice  of  the  Enemy's  Motions,  &  Can  retire 
here  or  harrass  them,  as  shall  be  Judged  best.  Col.  Brinkerhoft'  has  applied  to  me 
in  behalf  of  his  Reg't.  I  have  Ordered  the  whole  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness, 
— and  one-third  to  come  in  at  present. 

"  With  particular  respect  and  Esteem,  I  have  the  Hon'  to  be  your  Excellency's 
Obed't  humble  Ser't. 

"  Israel  Putnam. 
"His  Excellency  Gov"  Clinton." 

To  use  the  words  that  Shakspeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  *'  melan- 
choly Jaques," — 

"  Last  scene  of  all. 
That  ends  this  strange,  eventful  history. 
In  second  childishness," 

as  to  military  comprehension  of  circumstances,  contemplate  Burgoyne 
holding  "  high  festival"  in  the  Schuyler  mansion, — burned  to  the  ground 
next  morning, — at  the  junction  of  the  outlet  of  Saratoga  Lake,  Fish 
Kill,  and  the  Hudson,  while  his  faithful  subordinates  and  troops  were 


Pi  ii 


THE  BUROOYNE  CAMPAIGN. 


17 


l«,  1777. 

obliged  to 
particular 

trmat.on  I 
om  Staton 
reo  or  four 
1  that  they 
n firmed  by 
listed  with 
I ; — Le  says 
arty  which 
>r8  four  or 
n  Paramus 
mny  Cattle 

id  Sixteen, 

Bedily  Sent 

Southward, 
who  was  at 
retired  this 
busied  ye 
killed  and 
on  the  13th 
e  Philadel- 
ilants  Gen- 
3 ; — it's  my 
at  we  shall 


victims  to  the  elements  and  the  American  round-shot  and  bullets.  The 
deluges  from  the  clouds  were  not  more  pitiless  than. the  iron  and  leaden 
hail  poured  in  by  the  encompassing  enemy.  With  his  sweetheart,  Bur- 
goyue  was  having  a  joyous  time  and  wasting  the  hours,  when  the  last 
chaD(  e  of  escape  vouchsafed  like  a  rift  in  the  rack  of  the  storm, — the 
brit  interval  of  sunshine — was  gradually  closing  up  again  to  end  on 
"the  field  of  the  grounded  arms,"  on  the  opposite  shore,  at  the  point 
which  was  the  site  of  the  old  Fort  Hardy.  War  in  those  days  for  the 
professional  officer  was  noi  the  grim  reality  that  our  poor  fellows  found 
it  in  the  Rebellion  and  still  recognize  it  on  the  Plains. 

If  Burgoyne  was  "  Burgoyned"  as  was  Stanhope  at  Brihuega,  in 
1710,  or  Dupont  at  Baylen,  in  1808,  or  Pemberton  at  Vicksburg,  in 
1863,  and  the  embryo  of  the  independence  of  these  United  States 
ushered  into  being,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  "  Old  Glory,"  flung  to 
the  winds  at  Saratoga,  the  British  general  was  "  Burt^oyned,"  in  1777, 
on  the  one  hand  by  his  own  faults  and  errors,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
prescience,  constancy,  patriotism,  and  capacity  of  Philip  Schuyler. 

"  And  through  the  centuries  let  e.  people's  voice 

In  full  acclaim, 

A  people's  voice, 
Attest  the  great  [New  Yorker's]  claim, 
With  honor,  honor,  honor  to  him, 

Eternal  honor  to  his  name  I" 


iment  from 
ouble  pur- 
y,  &  are  as 

they  were 
Can  retire 
plied  to  me 

readiness, 

xcellency's 

UTNAM. 


<c 


melan- 


Burgoyne 
le  ground 
ike,  Fish 
ops  were 


